


Shaky Hands

by TetrodotoxinB



Series: Whumptober 2019 [1]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Blood, Bomb vest, Day 1, Panic, Prompt: Shaky hands, Whumptober 2019, gunshot wound
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-10-01
Packaged: 2020-11-08 23:37:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20843927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TetrodotoxinB/pseuds/TetrodotoxinB
Summary: Whumptober 2019: Shaky HandsMac isn't handling this situation particularly well.





	Shaky Hands

**Author's Note:**

> Beta'd by [Secret_Library98](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Secret_Library98/pseuds/Secret_Library98).
> 
> I refuse to provide titles for all of these so you get the prompt name. It's the best I got.

It’s been years since Mac’s hands shook while he was working, years more since he worried about the potential for failure. But here, now, trying to figure out which wires are redundancies, which are decoys, which are live — all while Riley stares up at him, her eyes wide but glassy as she slips further into shock — and he can’t. He can’t. He can’t still his hands and he can’t focus on anything except the way that the knees of his pants are tacky with the blood, _her blood,_ that’s pooling on the floor where he kneels beside her.

“How’s it coming there, hoss?” Jack asks. He sounds so calm, so sure, so convinced that Mac is going to cut the right wire in the right order.

“I’m trying,” Mac replies, wishing he had Jack’s confidence.

“I’m sure you’re doing just fine,” Jack says.

Mac doesn’t reply; it’s more than he can manage. He stares at the wires and reviews the circuit in his head again. It’s simple, it’s easy, it’s fucking basic. But his hands shake and he forgets which wire is the right one. Again.

“Not to be pushy or anything, but uh, that little clock doo-hickey seems to be counting down closer to zero. Wanna hurry things along?”

Mac glances at the timer which, until now, he’s been pointedly ignoring.

2:16

2:15

2:14

Mac takes a deep breath and clips a wire. The timer speeds up and fuck if that wasn’t the wrong choice. As the timer ticks down to zero in double time, Mac reviews the schematic in his head and quickly chooses another wire to cut. He can barely get the snips from his knife around the wire because he has no idea if this is going to work and they’re almost out of time.

Gathering his courage, Mac says, “I love you guys,” and then quickly snips the wire before the shaking in his hands gets the better of the whole operation.

The timer doesn’t stop. 

“No. No, no, no. I cut the right wire. I did it right!” Mac shouts.

Riley blinks up at his face, her lips moving silently. He can’t bear the look on her face, can’t know that he failed her and Jack as the timer rushes towards zero.

“Can’t win ‘em all, Mac. It’s not your fault. And I love you, too, man,” Jack says.

Mac looks up at him and he’s smiling through tears, though he hasn’t tried to run, hasn’t taken his hands off Riley’s still seeping gunshot wound. Mac would tell him to run but the timer reads 0:12. There’s no time for them to clear the blast radius, not as fast as the clock is running.

0:05

“I’m sorry, Riles. I’m so sorry.”

0:04

Mac takes her hand in his.

0:03

Tears drip off his chin.

0:02

He closes his eyes. At least it’ll be fast. No pain.

0:01

Deep breath.

0:00

Another breath. 

And then another.

“Uh, hoss? Why ain’t we dead?” Jack asks.

Mac blinks and swipes at the tears on his face with the back of his hand. He peers at the bomb, closer now that he feels a bit emboldened to lift it since the timer is already at zero.

“The timer was wired on an independent power supply so it didn’t stop when I disconnected it from the triggering mechanism. We should be clear.”

He doesn’t take the time to marvel at what feels like a miracle. Mac pulls at the velcro tabs of the vest even though his fingers fumble and it takes him several tries to get it accomplished.

Jack calls for exfil and medevac while Mac disassembles the rest of the bomb into a pile of harmless components. While he works, he listens to Jack as he talks to Riley so sweet and calm. And by the time the medics rush in, Mac can almost pretend his hands are still, can fake like he’s in any amount of control of the situation, even though he’s never felt so helpless in his life.

He busies himself with the leftover bomb bits while the medics whisk Riley away to the helo, and then it’s just him and Jack and fifteen guys from the Phoenix who are keeping their distance from Mac and Jack like they’re carrying plague. 

“You alright?” Jack asks and Mac hates the way Jack sees too much.

“Just a little shaken up. I’ll be fine,” Mac says.

“Yeah, just a little shaken up. Never got shook up like that in the Army, but I’m not judging you. I’m just saying you did it, you got it right, okay? We’re all gonna go home. You did good today,” Jack reassures him with a firm hand on the shoulder, guiding him out of the old steel mill.

“I freaked out. I couldn’t focus. I almost got us killed,” Mac admits softly.

“Aw, naw, hoss. You got it done just right, we just couldn’t look at the back of the whozamawhachit to know that. Now come on. Let’s get out of here and meet the rest of the team at the hospital.”

Mac lets himself be steered clear of the blood and the detritus of the bomb and finally the mill. But his hands don’t stop shaking, not until he sees Riley’s too pale form on the bed in the ICU. He didn’t kill her, he didn’t screw this up, and now there’s nothing left for him to screw up. He sits in the chair beside her bed and wraps his hand around hers, waiting for her to wake up.


End file.
